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Denise, I grew up with Peony's and still have them my favourite flower. They always start with small buds, it is natural the buds will grow and then you see the top start to open slightly and a few days later you wake up and there are the flowers, huge beautiful blooms that make your heart sing. My shrubs are quite old although one is from a huge shrub I grew up with and it was fifty years old then, a cutting has followed me where ever I move to. You need patience with Peony as a cutting can take five to seven years before the first bloom. They need sun although not early morning sun, you never cover the root ball with anything in fact i brush it clean with a paint brush then make a ring of compost around the root ball not touching it using my own compost mixed with a handful of granular fertiliser and that is all it needs. Once the flowers have gone over cut them off and leave the foliage to take in the goodness of the sun they will gradually go brown I leave them until Spring as a frost guard then cut the old foliage by now dry and dead off as the new growth appears. Good luck,Frank

I bought a "Sarah Bernhart" peony from Wilkos about seven years ago for £2. Each year it has just got bigger and bigger blooms and now there's about twenty on it. The buds are small but the flowers are massive, the plant stands four foot high. A plant that is definitely worth the annual flowering even if a bit short

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.

@Palaisglide - can I pick your brains? Before I knew any better I planted Sarah Bernhardt in a bed that gets morning sun but after that is really too shady for her. I think she'd be happier joining the rest of the paeonies on the other side of the garden but I know they hate being moved... I'm thinking do it in the autumn, but have you got any tips that might make the transition easier? She's eight years old, but still relatively small.

Thankthecat, The plant should have the buds on now and you could lose those flowers moving it now.Wait until after the flowers have gone and the dead heading finished, I cut the flower stalk well down and the leaves are left. if you move it after the dead heading it gives time to settle in the new position and take in the goodness from the soil and the sun.Prepare the area it is going into with plenty of compost then move it having fist dug the hole.Cut well away from the root ball and well down taking as big a root ball as possible move to the new position and plant making sure the top of the root ball is at the same level as it was, fill and heel in the soil around the root ball then water well, wash off any loose soil on top of the root ball.A bucket of water every couple of days for a week settles the soil and helps it recover.It may sulk for a year and not flower but it will come back, I thought I had lost one but two years later it came back and is now a strong shrub, they are fickle and can be moody just like us at times. I have seen posts where they just moved them without all the fuss and they are Ok but I would not risk it with a plant I love when a little time and patience is all that is needed.Frank.

Thanks Frank, so I think I'll perhaps move her a little sooner than I was expecting, so she can enjoy a bit of sunshine before the winter. I was fully expecting not to have any flowers for a year or two so that's fine. Just need to find a really nice long-term spot for her now. I totally agree they are worth any amount of effort. I have one that was given to me by a friend three years ago, with no idea of the variety. I don't even know what colour the flowers will be (I could ask my friend, but that would kind of spoil the fun of waiting!) She has put on more and more growth the last two summers but last time I checked, a couple of days ago, there were still no flower buds this year. Paeonies certainly teach patience!

Don't worry about moving it t.thecat. It's one of those popular myths, and there really isn't an issue, providing you don't plant too deep. The crown should be near, or on the surface of the soil. Too deep and they don't flower. Enjoy the flowers that come, and then go ahead, as Frank says. Be kind to her and I'm sure she'll reward with a bigger display in future.They are quite fickle though, aren't they!